Cattle Egret

The Cattle Egret, is actually a small white Heron, but unlike other species of heron, which prefer shallow water, this egret prefers dry grassy habitat. I photographed it in a paddy field in mangalore, after the crop was harvested and was probably foraging for insects or grasshoppers. These birds are generally found very close to cattle and other large animals, because, when grazing these animals disturb small creatures which the egrets then catch. This species will be sometimes found riding on the backs of these animals.
Since I was standing on a paddy field, when photographing the bird , I could not deploy my tripod, on the wet, soggy ground and had to click the photographs holding the camera with my hands. Now in situations like these, where I cannot deploy a tripod and have to use a telephoto lens, I prefer to click the photographs on a burst mode (i.e. you have to click the shutter button once, and photographs are clicked continuously, as long as the shutter button is depressed). The first photograph, where you had to press the shutter button, generally experiences camera shake, (even when on a tripod, the act of pressing the shutter button can sometimes cause slight camera movement, causing blur in photographs) but the subsequent photographs will be much better off. Both the photographs were third pictures of the sequence.